Bremerton Port Closer to SEED Commitment With Pursuit of $2.5 Million Grant

The Port of Bremerton will proceed with its application for a $2.5 million federal grant for initial work on Kitsap Sustainable Energy and Economic Development (SEED) project.

No vote was required to move the application forward. And the port's three commissioners, without discussion, in effect gave their blessing to port Chief Executive Officer Ken Attebery submitting the application to the Economic Development Administration by a July 16 deadline.

The grant, if received, would pay for a portion of a business incubator building on port property in which new clean-energy businesses would grow and possibly expand, Attebery said.

The grant requires a local match, some of which might come from taxpayer-financed general obligation bonds.

That, plus the fact that commissioners have not received a review of the SEED business plan, had caused two of the commissioners — Cheryl Kincer and Larry Stokes — to have reservations in the past.

After the meeting, Stokes said about the bonding, "It's a concern for me, sure."

Of not having the results of the business-plan review in hand, Kincer said the July 16 deadline could not be changed and the August finish date for the review "didn't match up."

Not going ahead with the application "would have shut it down entirely," she said.

Kincer also said that going ahead with the grant application does not obligate the port to issue bonds.

Commissioners also agreed after the meeting that the discussion has not happened yet on where the rest of the money would come from to cover all the costs of the incubator and related infrastructure.

One rough estimate of the package is $9.6 million, plus debt service, a staff of three or four, and maintenance costs.

Proponents for the project to grow green businesses and manufacturers locally urged strong support from the commissioners during the meeting.

Carl Olson, chair of the Kitsap County Democratic Party, said Kitsap should be part of the growing green movement.

"I'm going to be on the leading edge," he said.

Resident Cliff Kincaid said taxpayers could expect to pay, but it would be well worth it.

"Part of this development will come from us, all of us," he said.

Rand Riedrich, adviser for the Olympic College Small Business Development Center, said that in incubators, half of the startup businesses fail. Another 25 percent "graduate" and produce a handful of jobs. And 10 to 20 percent "skyrocket" into multimillion-dollar industries that employ hundreds.

"That type of growth is possible, and it would not occur without the incubator," Riedrich said.